The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-01-24
TERRIFIC EXPLOSION.
Seventy Tons of Giant Powder Elk.
ploded at Cliff House, near
San Francisco.
Terrible Effects of the Explosion.

| From San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 18th. ]
About 9 80 o'clock last night the schoon-
err Parallel, Captain Miller, went ashore
| directly off Point Lobos, striking on a
reef A heavy surf was running at the
time and indications pointed to the total
destruction of the vessel.
The Captain and all hands took to the
boats before the schooner lodged, and
when last seen were safely away from the
wreck The Parallel cleared on Thursday
| for Astoria
She is of 142 tons burden, was built in
San Francisco in 1868, and is owned by S.
B. Peterson.
The crew of the Parallel are supposed to
have escaped in the ships boats and, as
they would naturally make for port, a
| lookout was being kept at Meiggs wharf
for them, but up to 2 80 o'clock this morn
! ing nothing had been seen of them. The
night was bright and clear and the sea not
stormy, all of which circumstances were
in favor of the men escaping if they got
safely away from the schooner in the
| boats.
DRIFTING NEAR THE CLIFFS
Meager reports were received from the
wreck last night but it is evident that she
drifted south from Point Lobos into the
little bay to the north of the Cliff House,
which is being remodeled by Adolph Sutro
into an aquarium. There she was pounded
against the rocks by the heavy surf, and
was reported rapidly breaking up at II
O'Clock. 1t was known that sh 2 had pow
der on board, but no danger was appre-
hended from this source.
FEARFUL EXPLOSION OF POWDER.
At12:3O the powder on board the Par
allel of which there were forty tons, eX-
ploded, with a terrific conclusion, which
shook the entire peninsula. At the Mer-
chants Exchange the shock was mistaken
for that OF an earthquake. The building
shook and door and windows ratified vio-
lently.
\ SCENE OF RUIN.
1t was not many minutes before the Elk
change received telephone message from
John HysIop, the man in charge of Ethe
Point Lobos station, stating that the Par
allel's powder had exploded and that the
Cliff House. the two signal stations and
everything else within half a mile he'd
been wrecked. The north end of the
Cliff House was entirely blown away, and
the remainder of the building shaken ur
and every window broken.
THE RELIEF EXPEDITION.
About 2:3O o'clock this morning the
towboat Neptune was dispatched to the
scene of the wreck with appliances for the
relief of the schooner and the crew.
4 Of 70, +l,,
ing crew was still in the neighborhood o
the wreck, and the particulars of their op
erations could not be learned. The Nep
tune was sent out at the instance of the
Merchants Exchange and the Captain vii
report at headquarters upon his return.
REPORT FROM CAPTAIN LEES.
AT 30 a. IN. Captain Lees telephOnef
from the Cliff House site that the entire
structure had been blown to atoms. The
schooner, with 10000 pounds of gian
powder, had been run up under the elf
and had then exploded. She had drifteC
in on the shore at 9:30 p M, and the crew
had then taken to boats, and at 30 O'CLOCK
the explosion occurred. Chief Crowley
was notified and four officers were dis
patched to the Cliff House in a hack at The
request of Captain Lees.
The report of the conclusion was plainly
heard by Officer Campbell, who was stand
ing in front of the old City Hall.
STORY OF EYE-wITNEssEs.
At $50 o'clock last evening John Hys
Top, the marine reporter, saw the Parable
come ashore at the point of rocks forming
the cove at the north of the Cliff House
All sails were set and both lights were
burning He Immediately gave the alarm
and FASTENED down to the cove.
J. NJ. Wilkins of the Cliff House has
tened down to the little cove where Mr.
Sutro is building his aquarium. They
threw ropes out to the vessel under the
idea that the crew were on board, but the
ropes failed to reach her. Wilkins ther
took buggy and drove down to the life
saving station.
The life-saving men knew nothing of tbs
wreck. He woke them and they brought
out their apparatus. With the aid of his
horse the life-saving apparatus was hauled
up the hill and down to the cove. BY tina
time Hyslop had found out that no one
was aboard. Itwas one hour and ten min
utes from the time the wreck was discov
/
place
The life-saving men built bonfire OF
the beach and the civilians ali went home
The Cliff House was shut and all went tC
sleep.
THE GREAT EXPLOSION.
At 1 o'clock the sleepers were thrown
from their beds by great explosion, which
made them think that a great earthquake
had upheaved the cliff, or a tidal wave
swept up from the Pacific. A great wave
dashed up and vaulted over the Cliff House
building. The whole shore and cliff liter
ally trembled and shook as no earthquake
has shaken the earth for years. People
were rudely thrown from their beds by the
force of the explosion. Furniture and bed
steads were tossed and heaped about the
room.
The schooner Parallel was practically OBJ
liberated. Pieces of the wreckage were
found as far down as the Pavilion on the
Ocean House road. The life-saving mer
about the bonfire on the cliff were thrown
down and ali were horribly injured. They